[BirdPlusPlus]

Just earlier this week I was talking about this concept over drinks with my uncle, who has a PHD in Economics.

- though I didn't mean to imply that the entire tax gets offloaded downstream. That was clumsy.

My point is that taxing corporations without inordinately harming their employees and consumers' standards of living is impossible. Even worse, it grants a competitive edge to established corporations over lesser competing firms, which lack the connections or resources to navigate that tax code as efficiently.

It just isn't healthy for the market or effective at its purpose. If we're serious about maintaining healthy competitive markets and a public with purchasing power, we should consider different options.

[ChrisLomont]

Agreed. Also taxes are levied where collection is possible; economic theory is not the only consideration. Thus income is taxed in many forms, since it's easier to tax than say value.

And there's political reasons - corp tax is popular with the masses even if it's inefficient.